First of all let me start by saying that boating binoculars are definitely different than the hunting binoculars as well as the general birding binoculars.

Features of boating binoculars:

A good pair of boating binoculars should have the following features and these are

Waterproof
 
Fogproof
 
Rugged
 
Preferably should have a compass
 
Image stabilization is a must – A lot of binoculars have the inbuilt gyro stabilizing system as the boating activity may involve a lot of adverse conditions. These binoculars are generally O ring sealed as well as these are nitrogen purged for the fogproof properties

Some the top rated boating binoculars brands are
 
Pro Mariner series
 
Nikon Sports and Marine Binoculars 7×50 with Compass
 
Nikon Binoculars Oceanpro
 
Steiner Commander v 7×50
 
Steiner Navigator 8×50
 
Steiner Military marine
 
Bushnell Binoculars marine center focus
 
Bushnell binoculars H2O series
 
Barska Deep sea binoculars

Best magnification for boating binoculars
 

The best magnification for the boating binoculars is 7. 7x is optimum for the boating ones as it has enough power for viewing. Higher power makes it tough for viewing.
 The marine or boating binoculars should be fully multicoated as well as they should have a good compass. To accommodate the compass the best design is the porro prism design.
 
Most compasses will get illuminated at night and that will be helpful as boating or marine activity can be done at night and it will cause issues if there is no light.

Field of view for boating binoculars

A wide field of view for boating binoculars is needed as you will be viewing an area which is big enough while on the boat.

Focus

There are different types of focus and for boating binoculars the perma-focus or auto focus binoculars are better than the individual eye focus.

Types of binoculars are:

Again based on the types of binoculars there are various binocular brands which have come up trumps over even the luxury binoculars

Compact binoculars -30mm objective lens or less
 
Mid-size binoculars – 32mm – 35 mm objective lens diameter
 
Full –size binoculars – 42mm- 50mm objective lens diameter

Use of binoculars

The next comes the brands which are associated with the use of the binoculars and these uses are in the following categories

Hunting binoculars
 
Birding binoculars
 
Astronomy binoculars
 
Marine binoculars
 
Boating binoculars
 
Travel binoculars
 
All purpose binoculars

Yuou can read about top 10 binoculars here and for best binoulars for football here

The best brands for the binoculars for all purpose are the
 
Nikon
 
Barska
 
Celestron
 
Leupold
 
Pentax
 
Bushnell

Best brands for Astronomy binoculars

Apogee
 
Celestron

Top rated brands for birding binoculars are
 
Audubon
 
Swift
 
Steiner

Best brands for the Marine binoculars are
 
Steiner
 
Nikon
 
Canon

The brands rated as best for the hunting binoculars are or the top hunting brands are

Leupold
 
Swarovski
 
Nikon
 
Bushnell

As far as the entire list of Binocular brands is concerned then here is the list though I must they are not in any order as far as top rated brands are concerned.

Aimpoint
 
Alpen
 
ATN
 
Barska
 
Beltronics
 
Blackhawk
 
Brunton
 
Burris
 

Bushnell
 
C-More Systems
 
Canon
 
Carson
 
Centurion Systems
 
Cobra
 
Cuddeback
 
Docter
 
Dogtra
 
Dtsystems

Elcan
 
EOTech
 
Escort
 
Galileo
 
Gomotion
 
Gordon
 
Hawke

Inova
 
Insight
 
Kahles
 
Konus
 
Kowa
 
L3 / Thermal-Eye
 
Lasermax
 
Leaf-Reaver
 Leica
 
Leupold
 
Lowrance
 
Meade
 
Millett
 
Minox
 
Moultrie
 
N-Vision
 NcSTAR
 
Newcon
 
Night Owl
 
Nikon
 
Oberwerk
 
Olympus
 
Pentax
 
Rocky Mountain Radar
 
Rokinon
 Sightmark
 
Sightron
 
Simmons
 
Stealth Cam
 
Steiner
 
Streamlight
 
Trijicon

US Night Vision
 
Valentine
 
Vanguard
 
Vortex
 
Walkers

Whistler
 
Xenonics
 
Yukon
 
Zeiss